Best Loaves And Fishes Poems
I Saw God Rob the Poor Box
I saw God rob the poor box
take a beggar out to eat
two burgers and a coffee
a loaves and fishes feast.
I saw God in the alley
drape his coat around a bum
watched him walking slowly
on dark streets of lonely numb
saw Him in the playground
share his crackers with a friend.
I saw God on the battlefield
console an orphaned child
saw Him wipe her tears away
replace them with His own.
I saw Him on the subway
rise and let the tired sit.
Saw Him in the canned goods aisle
reach items on high shelves
saw the gratitude in those
who can’t do it for themselves.
I asked God what was going on
said “Hey, God, whassup!”
He smiled and said: “ just watching
my Angels growing up.”
John G. Lawless
4/14/2016
I saw God rob the poor box
take a beggar out to eat
two burgers and a coffee
a loaves and fishes feast.
I saw God in the alley
drape his coat around a bum
watched him walking slowly
on dark streets of lonely numb
saw Him in the playground
share his crackers with a friend.
I saw God on the battlefield
console an orphaned child
saw Him wipe her tears away
replace them with His own.
I saw Him on the subway
rise and let the tired sit.
Saw Him in the canned goods aisle
reach items on high shelves
saw the gratitude in those
who can’t do it for themselves.
I asked God what was going on
said “Hey, God, whassup!”
He smiled and said: “ just watching
my Angels growing up.”
John G. Lawless
4/14/2016
ONE PAIR OF HANDS
"Make it your ambition...to work with your hands". 1 Thessalonians 4:11
My dad was a coal miner,
Worked with his hands all day.
As evening came, he took time,
To fold those hands and pray.
A pick and shovel were the tools,
16 tons for his pay.
Calloused hands gave this service,
It is the miner's way.
A family to feed, clothe and guide,
A home where we gathered with love.
That's how it is in Windber, PA,
With guidance from above.
He taught me how to prune a tree,
To mow the lawn and such.
Landscaping and trim the hedge,
It really was not much.
Your hands, he would say,
Are guided by God's Son.
He healed the sick, raised the dead,
Christ is the special one.
He raised His hands in prayer,
Loaves and fishes He did serve.
Broke bread and served the wine,
More than we deserve.
These hands nailed to a tree,
An innocent man condemned.
They bled as He asked His Father,
Please bring it to an end.
One day we will be with Him,
In glorious heaven lands.
Please find a place for your servant,
Look at these working hands.
RAYMOND V. MORGAN
What if… you had been there...
When He was born in Bethlehem that night?
What if… you had seen the star,
And heard the angels singing by it’s light?
Would you have knelt there and worshipped him
At that humble manger, with it’s smell of hay?
Would you have believed that the Christ
Had come down to Earth that day?
What if… you had been there…
When he fed the multitude the fish and bread?
What if…you had listened to all
The wonderful things that He said.
Would you have opened your heart
And let His words enter in?
Would you have eaten His loaves and fishes,
And still gone away to live in sin?
What if…you had been there
And watched His agony, as He hung there and died
What if…you had felt the earth shake and tremble
And watched, as Roman soldiers pierced His dear side.
Would you have believed in Him,
As He forgave the men who drove the nails?
Or would you have been forever changed,
And gone away with the blessed story to tell?
What if…you had been there…
When behind the closed doors He appeared to the eleven.
What if…you had been the one who doubted,
And believed only when the scars you had seen.
Would you have said, even as Thomas said,
“My Lord and my God.”
Would you have believed in Him then,
When He was resurrected from the dead?
He was born in a Bethlehem stable, a modest carpenter's son,
Who did wondrous things ere His work on earth was done.
Despite His humble birth, He rose to become the King of Kings!
Along His perilous bourne He became adept at many things.
He was a PREACHER with no degree - His tutoring was from Above,
To guide Him in spreading His wonderful message of love!
He was a DOCTOR who cured the sick and caused the lame to walk,
Healed the blind, raised the dead and made the mute to talk!
He was a TEACHER who showed the way to eternal life,
And taught The Golden Rule that all may be free from strife.
He was a skillful LAWYER, tho' He held no jurisprudence degrees;
On many occasions He held His own debating fractious Pharisees!
A MIRACLE WORKER, He turned water into wine at a celebration,
And multiplied a few loaves and fishes to feed a vast congregation!
He was also a FISHERMAN, albeit a fisherman for the souls of men,
And a SHEPHERD guarding His flock from straying from the pen.
Never before nor since has such a man trod this earthly plane.
This Majestic One aspired for naught of trite worldly gain.
His sole mission was to die for mankind's sins on a lonely tree.
This son of a modest carpenter who is King for all eternity!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(© All Rights Reserved)
Rita was visiting. She pointed off the road. Let’s go there. So we did. It was the CIA - Culinary Institute of America. Like Auntie Mame, my aunt was a world traveler, an adventurer. My parents were not. My first taste of different.
fancy and fruitful
red plums and pastry aplomb -
a close call with life
There is crisscrossing of paths. One of my military assignments was Oahu, where my aunt no longer a spinster (her dad’s old fashioned label) was living. I’d traipse off to meet her, riding my moped. We’d have lunch at JC Penny’s coffee shop. She’d be surprised that I’d travel so far but there was something wild and adventurous in my twenty-something blood; and we only had one car.
a moped useful
for trekking to and from, up
to island stars
My son was almost one when he traveled with us to the Hawaiian islands. He’d go much farther, to Guam, and meet the woman he’d marry. After becoming a submariner chef, he’d win an Iron Chef contest, which would lead him to mom’s hometown where he’d get two degrees at the CIA.
does God sow these scenes
lead us to places unseen -
wildest dreams are birthed
Life is an adventure. I’d not had the faith to believe that but God had surely shown me the smorgasbord. On the smorgasbord of life, I ride the waves, the crest’s exciting, the bounce inviting.
God’s faithfulness sets
a table with bread and wine -
prolific support
Sea waters seem stagnant during this pandemic. We are at a lull, missing people and our lives. We are starved for the loaves and fishes God provides. I must have faith, this time around.
hunger greets God’s word
creator-restorer of faith -
snowfall like manna
2/28/2021
To blind ones and those cursed with leprosy -
the outcast souls who knew not man's compassion -
he touched and healed, that they might feel and see
his power from above, in humble fashion.
Five thousand hungry souls on a hillside -
his followers produced some loaves and fishes.
Then, giving thanks, this meal he multiplied
and fully satisfied the people's wishes.
Unto the lonely one, demon-possessed,
who had been exiled to some nearby caves,
Jesus bestowed his healing, and so blessed
the man, to demonstrate his power that saves.
To those who'd lost a loved one, in their grief
he brought them comfort with his words, "Fear not!"
With mercy, and to strengthen their belief,
he gave new life, and joy to those distraught.
To me, he is the very definition
of kindness - our example of true giving.
May I, like him, make it my earthly mission
to live its arc; may kindness mark my living.
THE FRAGMENT
It was just a fragment--a crumb left in the way,
Left from loaves and fishes people ate that day.
Birds could well have had it, no one would have cared;
Everyone had eaten, it was now left there.
It could have been trampled deep into the ground,
Soiled and overtaken, never to be found.
Insects could have feasted as the crowd had done--
What good was this fragment now to anyone?
Yet a voice then beckoned from the feasting host,
“Gather up the fragments so that none are lost.”
Someone knew that fragment need not be left there
For the birds or insects; someone really cared!
Someone else was hungry, the fragments still could be
Food on someone’s table, useful still to see.
Though it was a fragment, held within that hand,
He could multiply it, spread it through the land.
And when all the fragments had been gathered then,
They now filled twelve baskets for other hungry men.
I was like that fragment, torn through sin and pride,
Thought of now as useless, to be cast aside.
Jesus, though, was willing to pay all the cost
To gather up the fragments so that none were lost.
He knew I had value, though a sinsick soul,
So He died to save me and to make me whole.
Though I felt so trampled, trodden in the ground,
He did not give up on me, sought till I was found.
Though I’m still a fragment in His hand today,
With so many others, He can find a way
To help me be useful where I’m needed most
To gather up the fragments so that none are lost.
Premiered at The Break Horse Inn, Imperial Beach, CA – 12/9/1996
ACT 1
Tubal Cain’s Bedtime Chant
Haircut
Ballad of an Honest Man
Ingratitudes
Loaves and Fishes
Glory of the Word
ACT 2
It Was I
The Consequence of WE
Rachel’s Kitchen
Bedouin Eyes
Buthaynah Adara
Egyptian Cotton
ACT 3
Baby Blues
Play Date
Herself
Sky Full of Rain
Pretty Little Engine
Forest Lullaby
Wee Small Hours
When I’m Just a Memory
Thank you for your still laboring pains.
Thanks for the amnesia of suffering
the bedpan and the bible,
the sunny window
that ran with a watery blood
wherever the flying ducks
rushed toward your gun.
Fingertips tingle, the daily callus is softening,
becoming bearable
the way a fox forgets its trap shattered paw.
Thanks for the moonlight dispensed
in cloud-covered dreams.
The applauding grateful
must have partaken of your loaves and fishes
where hooked worms still dangle
bereft of hungry lips.
We are the tenderest of prey again,
the catch we have all been looking for.
What more can be said when gratitude runs away
with its desires still wriggling
and fleshy.
Thank you;
for your mastering love
hath consumed the apple in our mouths
and we are served up
in wide-eyed wonder once more.
I say unto you, when the olive branch is brought to the tax collector, let not those who are without mercy be sent forth from the well to offer comfort to the thirst of the brethren who linger by the hearthstone of the humble shepherd. Do not fill old wineskins with a new vintage without first giving thought to the psalms and parables from which they derive. In order to heal the sick and bring sight to the blind, the first harvest must be dedicated to the Great Whatever.
Therefore, do not leaven your bread earnestly while you bury your talents beneath a bushel. When the faithful servant of the rich master attends the wedding feast of the ten virgins, should he not first forgive his debtors and replace the barren fig tree of the elders with fruit of the prodigal womb? Pharisees and Samaritans have a greater chance of threading the eye of the needle than does he who labors in the vineyard of an unjust steward.
Know ye that all manner of men may seek to sow their seed in fertile soil, but the seed that grows secretly will remain unknown though it multiplies a hundredfold. Therefore, take the beam from your own eye for the sake of the grieving widow. The alpha and omega shall follow you days without number. Loaves and fishes shall multiply in the net of the fisherman and he who proves deserving will be granted admission to the first ward of the Temple.
On this occasion then, let us remember that not even the least of God's creatures shall be excluded from the eternal bliss of perpetual salvation in the unending glory of the guiding light as the world turns from the edge of night in the search for tomorrow and the Lord exclaims, “All my children shall be forever free from the dark shadows of the secret storm." We have but one life to live. The days of our lives are numbered. The young and the restless must not allow their love of life to lead them to another world where false prophets are not abominations in the eyes of the most righteous. Praise be to the Lord of Hosts, the great MC in the neon sky. Amen.
I saw God rob the poor box
take a beggar out to eat
two burgers and a coffee
a loaves and fishes feast.
I saw God in the alley
drape his coat around a bum
watched him walking slowly
on dark streets of lonely numb
saw Him in the playground
share his crackers with a friend.
I saw God on the battlefield
console an orphaned child
saw Him wipe her tears away
replace them with His own.
I saw Him on the subway
rise and let the tired sit.
Saw Him in the canned goods aisle
reach items on high shelves
saw the gratitude in those
who can’t do it for themselves.
I asked God what was going on
said “Hey, God, whassup!”
He smiled and said: “ just watching
my Angels growing up.”
Father Of Lights...
thousands...........
heard You preach
Your love and........
they got so hungry.
Your neverending cherish~~~~
and eternal compassion~~~~~
I don't merit it, loving Father~~~
You ignite hearts
just five loaves.......
and two fish............
Your blessing..........
amazed crowd........
fountain of many....
loaves and fishes...
Your very generous
Heart of Hearts......
such a living miracle
multiplied!~~~~~~
.
The road to freedom is dark and long.
To go the distance, I’ll need a song;
Something easy and strong,
Like an old-time Shaker hymn,
Simple Gifts or Willow Tree.
Let the spirit carry me.
The early morning is cold and damp.
I light a fire to warm my camp
And get smoke in my eyes;
That’s what memories will do.
Best not think of them as tears.
They’re just salty souvenirs.
Want country bacon and scrambled eggs,
But all I taste are hunger’s dregs.
Being this far from home
There’s no comfort in the truth.
Really need to hop a freight.
Guess I’d better learn to wait.
The station windows are boarded shut.
The switch is broken, the line’s been cut.
There’s a storm blowing in
And I’m running out of time.
Don’t expect one coming through.
From a pilgrim’s point of view any miracle will do.